Most of us take printers for granted, but what if one day we all woke up and printers just didn’t exist anymore? This fictional “Printer Doomsday” is worth dwelling on for a few moments. Imagine if it came true; we:

- wouldn’t get that new job we were interviewing for – after all we couldn’t even provide a printed CV
- wouldn’t get that new client account (worth $100K plus to the business) because we couldn’t give the managing director a colour copy of our presentation
- wouldn’t receive that crucial new product for our store because none of our truck drivers had delivery slips or correctly printed labels and addresses
- wouldn’t get paid because those invoices never saw the light of day
- we’d have no letters, no magazines and no books

Of course, it’s all very unlikely and all predictions of a paperless office have been well of the mark. But we raise it because people have a tendency to ‘switch off’ when it comes to printing and never stop to think about its significance in their daily lives. Yet, when you take away the ability to print many business processes become stalled and under threat.

Businesses need to recognise the important role that printing plays and treat it like any other vital IT asset – by taking the time to examine their printing processes and/or looking at how they can invest in their printing with better machines and better management. Better machines and better management also often means cost and efficiency benefits, and ensures businesses do not experience their own ‘Printer Doomsday’.